Appoint chairman for Lokayukta in TN: MK Stalin

Salem: The DMK president M. K. Stalin on Tuesday demanded that the State government appoint chairman for Lokayukta in Tamil Nadu to investigate corruption charges against the Cabinet ministers and government officials.

Leading a party demonstration in Salem to condemn the state government for its acts of omission and commission, he said, “the Tamil Nadu ministry is a highly corrupt cabinet in the country. 

It is an irony that the DVAC higher official, who is supposed to investigate the gutka scam, has been charged for sexual harassment. 

Referring to the charges in the gutka scam against State DGP himself, Mr. Stalin said, “as a son of Karunanidhi, I continue to speak against corruption and if they find anything wrong in my statement, they can file a case against me. However, they are not in a position to file case against me, since they are already facing many corruption charges.”

Adverting to the recent raids by Income-Tax and CBI officials across the State, he alleged that after raids at one Seyyadurai and Nagarajan’s house, officials seized Rs 180 crore in cash. An industrialist Subramanian linked to the issue, is a close relative of the Chief Minister; besides, the company, in which the trio has shares, was allocated with government contract worth of Rs 3,120 crore. Though we submitted petition to the DVAC to inquire into the scam, no action was taken on it. We filed case in the High Court through our party's organizing secretary R S Bharathi and the investigation will bring truths out,” charged Mr. Stalin. 

Asserting that violations in norms in allocating tenders and work contracts will lead to cancellation of World Bank funding for those projects, Mr. Stalin said it was precisely to investigate such charges that the Tamil Nadu government should appoint the chairman for the Lokayukta. 

 Mr. Stalin also noted that the DMK was preparing a list of IPS and IAS officials under the AIADMK regime who are ‘supporting’ and warned such wrong-doers will face legal action when DMK is voted back to power.  About 5,000 cadres and functionaris, besides former ministers of DMK took part in the demonstration.